Electric motors for household appliances should run as quietly as possible, which means, among other things, that the bearings must function optimally. An important condition for this is that the bearings must be well lubricated.
In the known bearing assembly, the running surface of the sleeve is provided with one or more grooves to retain the lubricant. It has been found, however, the environmental influences, such as comparatively high temperatures in the appliance, will cause the lubricant to drain along the shaft out of the grooves of the bearing, so that the sleeve and the electric motor suffer premature wear, resulting in an unacceptably high noise level or worse.
The object of the invention is to provide a bearing assembly of the type defined above in which the lubricant will be retained essentially for an indefinite period, and at the same time to provide an economically advantageous bearing by virtue of its form and construction.